Dale Farm eviction: eyewitness report from parish priest Fr Dan Mason

caravans at Dale Farm

In the early hours of this morning, riot police with shields and some armed with tazer guns began to smash their way into Dale Farm Travellers Camp in Essex. Several people are reported to have been injured. A number of protesters were arrested or removed. The eviction of the families, and demolition of the site, including St Christopher's chapel and community centre which was blessed by the local Catholic and Anglican Bishops in 2008 is due to begin within the next few hours.

Father Dan Mason, Parish Priest of Our Lady of Good Council church in nearby Wickford, spoke with ICN this evening.

He said: "I was on the site this afternoon to visit my parishioners and see how they were doing. It was very traumatic. One woman (Norah)was injured. They told me she was pushed against a wall and kicked. She sustained a back injury. That's what I was told. She was taken to hospital but they couldn't take her because there were no beds. Its all completely surreal. I know that site so well.The families are so hospitable. We sat in a caravan having a cup of tea. It felt surreal. Seeing riot police everywhere, helicopters, protesters, it looked like a war zone.

Fr Dan said Bishop Thomas MacMahon and other church leaders have been very supportive of the Dale Farm families. He said: "We've agreed with other churches that our halls will be available - to provide a safe space especially for the elderly and children. But I don't know if they will take it up. They are afraid of being separated. I told them we are always here for them. One woman said to me: 'We rely on the church'.

When news came that the eviction was going to go ahead, on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, the parish began a Novena, which ended on the Feast of Our Lady of Good Council, Fr Dan said. There is a grotto to Our Lady outside the church..

Fr Dan said he was concerned that because the appeals have gone on for so long, the police are being so heavy handed. He said: "These people have nowhere to go. Many of them came here after they were evicted from other places from Boreham Wood. The bailiffs Constant and Co are only ones that do this work.

"The trouble with taking up an offer of a flat, is firstly they don't want to be separated, but secondly they fear discrimination. People will say they have jumped the housing queue. There are about 4,000 people on Basildon council's waiting list."

"It is heartbreaking for the community police who have built up a good relationship with them but now they are associated with the riot police.

"There could be room for them to squeeze on the legal site but those people could lose their licenses if they do that. This could be the start of the council trying to get rid of them all. In the unauthorised site there are also three legal pitches but they fear the bailiffs won't respect those. They have already done some damage. There is always the fear the eviction will be over enforced.

"This is their land but the council will say the cost of the eviction means they can confiscate it, so they won't get compensation.

Fr Dan said another eviction had taken place on Hovefields, a much smaller site. "They used bulldozers and ruptured the sewers there. The place is now a flytip and a real eyesore."

(About 9.45pm Fr Dan received a message that Norah had fallen unconscious and been stretchered off.)